1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to hair devices, and more particularly to hair devices having a handle that is attachable and detachable from one of a plurality of hair styling pieces that both brush and shape hair.
2. Background Information
To style curls into a person's wavy hair, a professional hair stylist conventionally employs round brush blow-drying. In round brush blow-drying, a styling tool such as a round brush is first used to stretch a measure of clean, wet hair so that the hair is straight and taut. Round brushes are known in the industry. For example, Goody Products, Inc. (A Newell Company) of Peachtree, Ga. distributes a round hot curler brush identified as Ace Signature.RTM.. With the brush at the end of the hair drawing the hair tight, the stylist applies hot air from a hair dryer to dry the wet hair into smooth, straight, shiny strands. The stylist then either removes the brush and rolls a hair curler into the measure of hair or, preferably, retains the round brush and rolls the hair around the brush. The curler or brush is then clipped to the hair. As a curler or brush resides in the hair, the hot, dry hair rapidly cools and takes shape. The stylist repeats the process until approximately fifteen curlers or brushes reside in the person's hair.
There are problems with the conventional techniques. In the time it takes to go from a brush, to a curler, to a brush, to a curler, etc., the dry hair cools, thus lessening the ability of the curler to hold a tight curl. Under the preferred alternate method, the handles of each brush stick out and interfere with styling the other measures of hair. Moreover, the weight of the handle pulls the curl to one side, out of shape, as the curl cools, as well as causes discomfort to the user.
One solution to the problems with the preferred alternate method is to be able to remove the handle from the brush/styling part after rolling and clipping it to the hair. With this solution, it is also important to be able to retighten the curl by reattaching the handle and rotating the brush/styling part. U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,052 is directed to a hair-curling device in which the handle is releasably connected to a hair-curling element. The only connection/release mechanism taught is two spring loaded pins extending radially towards one another into a cavity of the handle. The handle is then fit around the end of the curler having two mating grooves formed into the end of the curler and is snapped into place. U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,052 cites U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,967,630, 4,004,595, 4,260,871, and 4,712,570 as having a variety of disadvantages which U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,052 seeks to avoid. However, U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,052 has its own disadvantages, especially for users styling their own hair.
With moving parts such as the spring loaded pins taught by U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,052, fine strands of hair may get caught between the pins and the housing of the pins within the handle cavity. These metallic moving parts may degrade over time due to their exposure to the hot, humid hair styling environment. Moreover, with the spring loaded pin/groove solution, it is difficult for users styling their own hair to reattach the handle so as to be able to rotate the curler to retighten the curl. Furthermore, although the long bristles of the hair-curling element taught by U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,052 may avoid the need for auxiliary fixing devices such as a clip, the long bristles of the hair-curling element taught by U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,052 snag and get tangled up in the user's hair, making it difficult to remove such a hair-curling element. And, since the hair-curling elements taught by U.S. Pat No. 5,318,052 are not capable of brushing and stretching a measure of wet hair straight and taut, the user is required to use a separate styling implement for such a task.
What is needed is a hair styling system where a handle may be releasably attached to one of a variety of styling pieces without moving parts. What is also needed is a styling system where it is relatively easy to reattach the handle to one of the variety of styling pieces, where the bristles of each styling piece are of an appropriate length to prevent snags, and where each styling piece is capable of being used to brush and stretch a measure of wet hair straight and taut as well as used to style a desired curl into the user's hair.